Sinan Oğan to support Erdoğan in runoff polls

ANKARA

Sinan Oğan, the presidential candidate of the ATA Alliance who received around 5.2 percent of the votes in the first round, has announced that he will support President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the runoff elections slated for May 28.

“After our internal deliberations, I want to announce that I will support the presidential candidate of the People’s Alliance, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in the second round. I also call on my electors to endorse Mr. Erdoğan,” Oğan said at a press conference on May 22.

In the second round, Erdoğan, who received 49.5 percent of the votes in the first round, will race against Nation Alliance’s presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who had secured 44.8 percent of the votes.

Oğan has been urging for a tougher stance against terrorism and sending all the immigrants back to their country. He said he agreed on these items with Erdoğan, which includes “taking all the measures for sending the immigrants in a certain timeline.”

The nationalist politician also underlined that Erdoğan’s alliance has the parliamentary majority and that it was necessary for the stability of the country. “I also want to emphasize that I never negotiated for any position with either of the alliances,” he stressed.

Oğan’s statement came after the components of the ATA Alliance announced that they parted ways and that they will vote individually in the second round.

“The ATA Alliance has officially ended. Every party will make its own decision,” Justice Party Chairman Vecdet Öz, a component of the ATA Alliance, said in a televised interview late on May 21. “I will respect the decision to be taken by Prof. Ümit [Özdağ, the chairman of the Victory Party]. Sinan Oğan can act the way he wants,” he added.

Öz announced his support for Kılıçdaroğlu. Özdağ, the architect of the ATA Alliance and chairman of the Victory Party, will announce his stance through a press conference on May 23.